The Experiences And Perceptions Of Social Support By Single Mothers Of Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Introduction
This study will explore the single mothers perceptions of social support relative to raising a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. It will use a qualitative framework with grounded theory methods. Two well-researched stressors exist that affect the lives of single mothers of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder: parenting a child with special needs and being a single mother. Boss’(2002, 2006, 2008) theory of ambiguous loss, the ambiguity about a family member’s presence or absence in the family system, served as some of the constructs for this study. A sample of 16 single mothers with a child or children diagnosed with autism in school-age special education programs ranging from 3 to 21 years of age will take part in an in- depth, semi structured interview utilizing an interview guide based on the literature of mothers with children with autism and single motherhood. Interviews will be audio taped and transcribed and data analysis will be done by using open coding. Through this the identification of variables that are descriptive of the mothers’ experiences will be identified. There will be three primary findings to this study: 1) the concept of High Information Seeking emerged. This is defined as , Through this concept, the mothers clearly redefined their role of advocacy and autism, in essence moving towards a change in the social construct of autism as defined in the single-parent family; 2) the mothers’ perceptions of positive support differed between familial and external resources (e.g. school based support teams, friends, online support groups); and 3) ...
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The dependency on their mothers can negatively impact their relationship with their fathers. In many cases, the father is no longer part of the family unit, putting the young man in the role of the ‘man of the house’. This in itself has a whole new set of problems. Their mothers teach them to be kind and helpful; yet as young as Kindergarten they are taught to avoid their mothers’ ideas and emulate their fathers’. Why? A mother’s ‘negative influence’ can make them compliant and possibly question manhood. Kimmel states, “Boys learn that their connection to their mother will emasculate them, turn them into Mama’s Boys” (547). No male wants to be perceived as soft or emotional, they want to be tough and brave, perhaps even feared. If they hang around their mothers, they possess the idea they will develop into babies and do “woman” stuff. Kimmel shares a story of a mother saying that her husband took their three and a half-year-old son to a barber shop to get his hair cut. The barber used hot and painful chemicals in his hair, when the boy began to cry the barber called him a wimp and informed the father that his son had been hanging around his mama too much and that needed to change. The father went home upset and announced to his wife that the boy would be doing sports and other activities with him. Boys learn at an early age that involvement
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This Clinical Research Paper defines autism, the various impacts of the disorder, and the theories that can be applied to this type family dynamic. The basis of this research project stems from the semi- structured interviews that Ashley Hartmann conducted. She studied half on the perspectives of the siblings and that of the parent’s perspective and discovered various themes that arose from this study. In findings a total of 12 themes emerged between the siblings and parents; in the sibling interviews; knowledge of Autism, affect on relationships, feelings of sibling’s autism diagnosis, future care for sibling, meaning, acceptance and advice and extended family. In the parent’s interviews, feelings around autism, knowledge around autism, life changes, affect on relationships, support systems and acceptance, meaning and advice. She also highlights the stress that affects the family system, but also reveals the many resources and services to better assist these individuals and their family.
Unfortunately, a lot of parents may have a difficult time accepting their child, and coping with their needs and the responsibilities. From the book “The Elephant in the Playroom,” some families dealt with depression and physical and mental deterioration of their health. These struggles were shown in the story by Laura Cichoracki. Laura’s son’s name was Patrick. Patrick was a 6-years-old boy with autism. “I wasn’t eating right, I wasn’t showering regularly, I wasn’t sleeping well” (Brodey, p. 64). I also read the story told by Susan Marrash-Minnerly, which highlighted emotions that parents face. Susan also shed light on how wonderful children with special needs can be to a family, such as her ten-year-old third grader who had autism. Susan talked about how it was normal to feel angry at times, especially with the ups and downs a child’s disability may come with. “When I look back, I want to tell other parents that a child’s future is worth grieving over – but it’s not the end of the world” (Brodey, p. 75). After reading these stories, it became apparent to me that families who are raising kids with special needs, need support, kindness, and available resources. “I was fortunate to be surrounded by other moms who understood my pain…who could be supportive and emphatic.” (Brodey, p. 67). Overall, educators can use this kind of information that was shared in “The Elephant in the Playroom” about family systems and risk/resiliency by creating lines of open communication between families. This is to connect parents together that share similar struggles. By creating open communication is can allows for the teacher and parents to be on the same page when it comes to the issues affecting special needs students and
In Disabilities Vol. 2 a theory is presented on the effects experienced by the siblings of autistic children. This theory states that parents of children with autism typically give more time and energy to their autistic child than their other children. It also theorizes that although no formal expectations of the non-autistic child are established, they feel a responsibility to take over the role of care giver for the autistic sibling once the current care givers, in this case the parents, are gone. Another theory presented in this publication is...
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Overall, John M. Barry was able to define and characterize scientific research. Using rhetorical strategies such as, comparison, specific diction, and contrast Barry is able to show how scientific research is uncertainty
It can be a parent's worst nightmare... One moment your child is with you, and the next moment you can’t find them. These concerns can be especially scary when you have a child who has difficulties with communicating, socializing, and other restricted or repetitive behaviors. Together, impairments in these three areas define autism.[1]
...g age. “Young children idolize their parents and draw strength from closeness to them.” (Nichols, 190). As soon as my friend and his sister were near to their father, they felt safe, and things returned to normal.
Palmer, Ted. A Profile of Corrctional Effectiveness and New Directions for Research. State University of New York Press: Albany, 1994.
The number of children that display autistic traits keeps rising and the need for services is at an all-time high. Out of 10,000 children born, 60 to 100 children and families will be affected by autistic spectrum disorder (Gulberg, 2010). Autism is characterized by a lack of connection to other people, even parents, and an avoidance of interpersonal situations (Feldman, 2011). Children with autism also show limited, repetitive and stereotypical patterns of behavior, interest, and activities. Not one child with autism is the same as the next; each child has their own severity and indicators of autism. A child with intellectual disabilities and a gifted child can both be given the diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum, because of the wide range of severities. Many of these children will not attend special schools, but instead be included in the general education population by inclusion. Inclusion has been found to have a number of benefits for children with autism. In addition, negative perspectives have also come into play when discussing autism and inclusion. Furthermore, parents have the right to make decisions for their child on an individual basis.
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As a teacher, I believe it is very important to communicate with parents. Building a rapport and communicating with parents helps to support all the work done in the classroom. I am writing this paper to share my communication experience with a family members of a student that has Autism. His parents are very involved in his well being at school and my cooperating teacher, his paraprofessional and myself have good rapport with his parents. One method of communication utilized included direct face-to-face conversation in the morning with his father and in the afternoon with his father or grandmother. The child’s mother does not come to the school, but she is still actively involved with his progress and behavior in school each day through other methods. I worked cooperatively with the teacher and paraprofessional to communicate with her through the child’s parent communication notebook, text messages and telephone calls. In addition, when his
For my interview I decided to focus on a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ASD as we learned is a disorder that is not curable. ASD impairs one’s ability to interact with others and to communicate with others. ASD is also known as a group of disorders that interfere with brain development. The mother I interview explained that she begin seeing “unusual” things going on with her son when he was an infant, but always thought the he would grow out of it. At the age of 2 years old she explained that he was diagnosed with Autism. Some signs and symptoms include the following; failing to respond to name, resist cuddling or holding, poor eye contact, delayed speech, inability to start a conversation, repeating words, speaking in abnormal tone, no emotions expressed,
Autism is an intricate developmental disorder that is characteristically noticed by parents and or diagnosed by parents between the ages of eight-teen months and three years of age. In recent studies, Werner (2001) isolated themes from in-depth interviews conducted with different parents of children with autism. These themes included the following findings: the family’s life revolves around dealing with the child’s autism and unusual behaviors; parents feel losses because they and their children cannot lead a so called normal life; and the family experiences only fleeting moments of actually feeling like a typical family. Autism does not effect a particular type of person it occurs in all social, racial, and ethnic groups.